I'm thinking about purchasing a new black powder rifle. I'm looking at the Encore, Omega and Black Diamond. Is cleaning the Black Diamond more of a hassle than the other two?

I never had to clean the other two. I have a Black Diamond XR and it can be a pain to clean like any in line back powder rifle. Especially if you have a scope on it. Be sure and get a deluxe breech plug wrench as soon as possible. Also be sure to check your breech plug while your shooting at the range from time to time. Although I played by the rules and greased the plug and checked it to loosen it, it still got stuck on me...

Do you have to take the barrel off? Can you run a patch on a rod through the breech end?

After removing the back lock lug, you could pull the striker, then the striker or cocking handle and spring which will allow you to get to the nipple and breech plug. I suppose you could remove the nipple and pull the breech plug and run a cleaning rod through the breech of the rifle towards the muzzle. I have never done that. When I am shooting I swab from the muzzle down with denatured alcohol and then a couple dry patches. The only time I break the rifle down is for the final cleaning. I have never tried it because the wrench that comes with the rifle is not the best piece of equipment I ever used, especially if you have a scope on it. (broke the breech plug wrench trying to remove a stuck breech plug and am currently waiting still for a deluxe breech plug wrench so I can shoot again)

All I will say for the rifle is, it is not that bad to clean once you have the breech plug removed, it seems to shoot almost anything I want to put down the barrel, and shoot it well. The trigger is fantastic, and the fiber optic sights are so nice I am tempted to remove the scope and mount it on the Staghorn I have and shoot this rifle with the fiber optic sights only.

This pic shows what you can do with one off shooting sticks with 85 grains of Triple Se7en, a wonderwad and some home made conicals. The one small hole was a 240 grain Cheapshot I fired off hand at the target after shooting the 320 grain LEE R.E.A.L. conicals...

I own an Omega, it is a easy to clean. Just remove the breach plug and it is ready to clean.

The omega or encore will both be easier to clean in the field. Simply remove the breech plug. The Black Diamond requires you remove the striker. This is not a problem when cleaning at home on a bench. In the field there are just too many things you could lose in the grass for my comfort. My question is what is the reason you are doing the cleaning in the field. If you are like me and loaded a bullet with no powder [] the omega makes it much easier to fix this problem. If you simply want to swab the barrel for your next shot, then you can do that from the muzzle end like any sidelock rifle shooter does and get along just fine.

45Hawken, I was referring to field cleaning as when I'm at the range for an extended shooting session....

Well today I wanted to see if it was possible to clean the Black Diamond XR from the breech end. It is possible to take the locking lug bolt off, remove the spring, the spring plug, the striker, the striker handle then the 209 nipple and breech plug without removing the barrel from the stock. I think It might get a little hard to clean it from the breech with the stock on in this position.

I had removed the scope and put it back on, and wanted to see if it was still dead center on, so I took the rifle out and shot it. It was perfect. I was very pleased. I had an excellent day shooting the rifle. This thing is so accurate it amazes me.

If you feel the need to field strip the rifle at the range, and clean it. I would suggest you get the Omega. There is a lot of parts here, and even through it is not that hard to clean, it would be better to remove the stock.